


hook, line, and sinker

by chapple



Category: VIXX
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 04:05:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12182562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chapple/pseuds/chapple
Summary: taekwoon just wanted someone that he could ’connect’ with





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> this was also uploaded on tumblr in here~

Taekwoon was used to it. Wonsik, his junior, had ditched him once again to go and watch a live show with his boyfriend. It was not that they had made an arrangement beforehand nor do they hang out together a lot anyway; it was just that, after all this time, Taekwoon finally realized how he needed more people to call his ' _friends_.' But of course, it was easier said than done especially since, as Wonsik claimed, he looked unapproachable and hostile. Not to mention, he apparently has a sharp, piercing gaze that would drive people away. Before Wonsik had informed him, he had always wondered why it seemed like the people around him would skitter away when they come across him. However, even with that knowledge, he didn't really know what to do. How could he possibly appear less ' _scary_ ' when that was just how he looked like? Getting plastic surgery is obviously out of the question and suddenly putting on a mask just to get friends would be exhausting and not something that he would like to do either. 

Taekwoon heaved a sigh. Thinking about such things was tiring enough, what more if he actually did something and acted on it? He was not in a dire need of new friendships; he simply wanted to _connect_ with someone. No matter where he looked, people would either be with their friends or their lovers or on their phones talking or texting them. Taekwoon had no one like that. He had lost contact with his middle school friends and the people from his high school would only send messages every now and then. It was miraculous enough that Wonsik still continued to speak to him considering how he said that Taekwoon was aloof and ' _kinda_ ' frightening— 

"I'm only going so I could watch Yeonie on stage!" a female student exclaimed out of nowhere, catching Taekwoon off guard. He would have clutched his chest if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't want to bring attention to himself. 

"I'm sure that a lot of people are going just because of him. I've never even heard of the other guests that they've invited!" Her friend commented. "The organizers probably just phoned random people to perform." 

She turned to her friend, taking her eyes off of the poster on the board. "You're going too, aren't you? Because of Yeonie~" She teased, wearing a wide grin on her lips. 

A faint blush tinted her friend's cheeks. "O-Of course! Why else would I be going if not for him? He is the dance department's pride!" 

Taekwoon drowned out their conversation to glance at the poster that they were looking at. It was the live show that Wonsik was going to attend with his boyfriend. He was invited too and he _did_ want to go, but the idea of being a third wheel for the couple had put him off. Like what most students buzzed about, Taekwoon was curious about the dance department's Cha " _Yeonie_ " Hakyeon. Wonsik's boyfriend would brag about him all the time, asserting that he was close friends with Hakyeon. Taekwoon nodded his head as he listened, but didn't really believe him. How could he? Almost 90% of the student population claimed the same thing. They all said that they have spoken to Hakyeon, harping about how nice and friendly he was. Taekwoon could not refute their statements since he, himself, had witnessed him interacting with other students once. He found it admirable that Hakyeon was able to converse with other students with ease and confidence—even with those that aren't in his department. And while he felt a tinge of envy before, his admiration was far greater. 

After the two girls have walked away, bringing their conversation along with them, Taekwoon continued to stare at the bulletin board. He had forgotten how long he had been standing there and _why_. Seeing no reason to continue wasting his time in the hallway, he slung his bag on his shoulder and was about to set off when something suddenly caught his eye. Taekwoon thought that perhaps he might have just imagined it. But upon taking a closer look at the very far end of the huge bulletin board, at the bottom right corner, his suspicions were verified. He lifted and peeled away some advertisement and announcement posters before he reached what he thought was a photo of a cat's tail. 

" _Ah_ ," left Taekwoon's lips before he striped the cat memo off of the board. From the looks of it, the note had been stuck on there for a long time; the colours and ink were almost completely washed out. "A forum?" He murmured, raising an eyebrow upon reading the only message written on the small note. Taekwoon pulled out his phone and went on his browser to type in the url provided below the neat handwriting. 

Taekwoon didn't realise that he had been chewing on his bottom lip to restrain himself from smiling with excitement when the pastel themed website finally loaded. It was a forum for pets and animals—the exact thing that he currently needed the most. 


	2. leo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was also posted in [tumblr](https://mamichu.tumblr.com/post/165988802740/)~

It's been a week since Taekwoon first visited the forum. He hasn't joined yet, but he had been regularly checking the threads. His favourite, especially, was this particular thread where users shared photos of their pets. On the first night that he had come across it, he binged through its pages and fell asleep with his dead phone still on his hand. He was relieved that he didn't have early lectures that day or he would have definitely missed them. Over brunch, while charging his phone, he continued from where he left off the night before. Taekwoon naturally saved his favourite photos from the thread (which was almost the entire thread) and only had to stop when his phone warned him that his storage space was full. 

From the time that he had spent lurking in the forum, Taekwoon had pretty much memorized which users would frequent which boards and threads. There was this one user that was always way too enthusiastic that they are on almost every other thread, posting their thoughts accompanied by Japanese emoticons and sometimes, emojis. Taekwoon had become so familiar with the user that even if he didn't look at the username, he could tell which posts were his right away. Besides that, Taekwoon's favourite thread was created by them: ' _Share photos of your friends~^^_ ' by "NNNNN" He was there all the time, either posting new photos of animals that he had come across with or cooing at other users' pets. Taekwoon sometimes wondered if they had a thesaurus next to them whenever they would post a reply because they never seem to run out of good things to say— 

" _Hyung_!" Wonsik cried, shaking Taekwoon's arm. "I've been trying to get your attention for the last 10 minutes!" 

Taekwoon rolled his eyes and locked his phone before he turned to his junior. "What is it, Ravi?" He asked through his teeth. "Did you need something?" 

Wonsik sighed and sat himself down on the bench next to him. "I haven't seen you in more than a week and now that I see you, you're grinning really wide at your phone... Don't tell me that you..." 

"It's nothing like that," Taekwoon hissed, offended at what Wonsik was implying. Just because he had a boyfriend, it didn't mean that he had to get one himself. Sure, it had been quite some time since his last relationship, but that didn't automatically mean that he was lonely. He was _not_ a loner. The decision to look for a partner was his to make and not others. 

"Then what is it?" Wonsik prodded carefully, watching out for his reaction. "I haven't seen you smile for more than a second before." He shrugged his shoulders, immediately coming up with an excuse before Taekwoon could criticize his assumptions, "I always get told that I looked strange and creepy whenever I'm texting Jaehwanie so... I thought that maybe you found someone." 

Taekwoon scoffed. "It's nothing that you're thinking of—it's a forum." 

Wonsik lifted an eyebrow. "A _forum_? What kind of forum?" 

"A forum for pets and animals," Taekwoon said, unlocking his phone again and refreshing the page to check if there were new posts. 

" _Ah_... I guess that makes sense since you're volunteering at a pet shelter as well." Wonsik stretched his legs out and put his arms behind his head. "Did you just join recently?" 

Taekwoon shook his head. "I haven't joined. I'm only reading the posts." 

"Why not? You're clearly interested in whatever's in there..." Wonsik tried to steal a peek at the screen over Taekwoon's shoulder, but the latter had lowered his phone's brightness and slid away before he could see a thing. He sighed from defeat and slumped back down on the bench. "You might as well join it. They would never really know who you are as long as you don't put your name as your username." 

Taekwoon considered it for a while, then asked, "What should I use as a username?" 

"Anything. It could even be ' _NyaaNyaa_ ' or something and it wouldn't even matter—" Wonsik cowered before Taekwoon could even lift a hand to hit him. "I'm just saying!" He said in his defence. "Anyway," Wonsik cleared his throat, "All this talk about pets kinda remind me of my friend who wanted to become a vet. Wonder how he's doing now...?— _Oh_! Speaking of which, if I were to get a pet, I'm gonna choose a french bulldog and name him ' _Butt_.' It'll be so cute~" 

While Wonsik chatted on and on about his dreams of getting a dog, Taekwoon had already drowned out his words and got himself distracted with NNNNN's new post. They posted a new photo of a beautiful toy poodle named ' _MongMongie_ ,' and described how they played with her and fed her some snacks. They also joked about how MongMongie went to them because they were good-looking and Taekwoon held back a snicker. If he was a member in the forum, he would have teased NNNNN about how they were making things up. The other users were way ahead of him though, answering below NNNNN's post before he even thought of it. NNNNN simply replied with ' _Lol :P_ ' and carried on with their account about how they met MongMongie since the other users were curious about the story behind their meeting— 

Taekwoon jumped on his seat when a loud ringtone suddenly went off. It was certainly not his; he would never set such a noisy tune as his ringtone. If anything, his phone was always on silent. He doesn't even remember the last time that his phone had ever been out of silent or vibrate mode. Taekwoon glared at Wonsik who was cupping at his pockets to pick up the blaring phone. Once he found it from his back pocket, he immediately answered, "Hyung? You're already out of your lecture?" He then went on the explain that he was at the other side of the campus because he happened to come across Taekwoon and got lost in a conversation with him. 

' _How is_ that _my fault?_ ' Taekwoon thought, furrowing his eyebrows. Just by observing Wonsik's relationship with his boyfriend, the more that he felt that his decision to stay single is justified. How could anyone not realize that it was difficult enough to look after one's self? He barely even has time for other leisure activities like playing soccer—What more if he had a lover that would always pester him about his whereabouts and accuse him of all sorts of things? Taekwoon shook his head, reminding himself once again that not everyone was like any of his exes. 

Going back to the current page of the thread, Taekwoon stopped by the ' _quick reply_ ' box that was at the very bottom. Since he was only an anonymous guest, there was no option to actually send a response. Instead, there was an option to either log in or to sign up. He stared at the words, recalling what Wonsik told him just minutes ago. Should he _really_ join? He was contented with simply lurking around, but would it be much better to join? Taekwoon clicked on the sign up option and it led him to the registration page. As one would expect, there were boxes for name, username, email, and gender. At the end, there was a tick box for whether one agrees with the terms and rules. He filled in the email box first and chose the ' _male_ ' option for gender. Taekwoon found himself stuck with the name and username boxes, forcing him to reflect on whether he should really join. 

"Hyung, I need to go," Wonsik said with haste, tapping on his shoulder to get his attention. "Jaehwanie's looking for me and I promised that we'll eat lunch together." 

Taekwoon lifted his eyes and it landed on his junior's leopard patterned jacket. He only nodded his head and shooed Wonsik away with a wave of his hand while his other was busy typing in ' _Leo_ ' in both the name and username boxes. He did not even hear Wonsik's footsteps when he left since the registration page just approved of both his name and username. Had the username been rejected, he would have actually put in ' _NyaaNyaaLeo_ ' as Wonsik suggested moments ago. Although the username seemed embarrassing, he found it cute and wouldn't mind using it since no one would think of connecting Jung Taekwoon with ' _Leo_.' After all, he just came up with it on the spot because of Wonsik's jacket. 

And like the majority of people, he didn't actually go through the terms and rules page and simply clicked on the tick box and proceeded with his registration form. Taekwoon released the breath that he didn't know that he was holding. He was finally a member now. The only thing left for him to do was to check his email to confirm his registration. 


	3. who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, this was crossposted on [tumblr](https://mamichu.tumblr.com/post/167209056810/title-hook-line-and-sinker-chapter-2-who)~

"Don't tell me that you still haven't posted anything?" 

Taekwoon looked up from his phone screen, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. It was Hongbin who spoke; technically he was the owner of the pet shelter that he volunteers at since his family runs it. The latter began to notice that he had been eager to check his phone for the past few days and had speculated the same thing as Wonsik did. Taekwoon refuted his claims at once, repeating the exact thing that he told Wonsik: "It's a forum," he said to him. But unlike Wonsik who gave up right away when he was refused a glimpse at the forum, Hongbin was curious about it enough to keep pestering Taekwoon about it until he explained what the whole fuss was about. It made sense though—Hongbin wanted to become a veterinarian after all and he was always at the pet shelter if he wasn't at his university. 

Taekwoon shook his head, thumbs hovering over the keyboard. "Haven't made an introduction thread yet." 

"I already told you that you don't need to make one!" Hongbin cried, throwing his hands up in frustration. Ever since he found out about Taekwoon joining the forum, he had been telling him over and over again that it was not necessary. And yet, there they were again, having the same old conversation. "You could just you know... Jump in at whatever they're talking about and it wouldn't even matter. You're stressing yourself over nothing and it's not helping you or me or any of them!" He said, gesturing at the animals all around them. 

"Wouldn't that be awkward?" Taekwoon whispered, but Hongbin had already stormed away, dragging a sack of pet food with him to the storage room. He released a sigh, refreshing NNNNN's thread to check if there had been any updates— 

Taekwoon's heart skipped a beat and his breath got caught in his throat. NNNNN had indeed posted something new and it said: ' _Leo-ssi, you must be new in here? ^^ I noticed that you have been on this thread quite often. It's okay, none of us bite~ You could always join in and send some photos of your friends if you have some with you!_ ' After that, they had quoted another user's post to respond to them, but Taekwoon didn't bother to continue reading any further, his eyes only kept on skimming over the message addressed to him. His panicked thoughts invaded his mind, pondering about how NNNNN could have possibly known about his activities in the forum. Flustered, he ran his thumbs on the page, scrolling up and down and back again and again. Only when he stopped did he finally take notice that after the quick reply box at the bottom of the page, there was a small section that listed the current online users and the visitors of the current thread. Taekwoon let a curse slip past his lips at his late discovery. How could he possibly have missed _that_? He was practically on the forum every single day! 

"When you're finished wasting your time over there, it would be nice if you could lend me a hand!" Hongbin shouted all the way from the storage room, at the other end of the hall. "And I actually thought that you were one of the best volunteers that we have! I take back what I said back then, I don't like that you found that forum!" 

' _Could there be another Leo?_ ' Taekwoon considered, despite how he was 99.99% sure that there was no other user in the forum that shared the same nickname as his username. He had been stalking the forum long enough to know that fact. NNNNN undoubtedly wrote that post to _him_. Should he really just follow Hongbin's advice: skip the introduction thread and simply join in whatever conversation the users were currently having? ' _But wouldn't that be rude?_ ' He thought miserably. 

Taekwoon scrolled back up to NNNNN's post, only realizing then that his cheeks have become warm. Should he really just answer? He was already exposed anyway, and after refreshing the page, he found the other users were welcoming him too. There was even this other user that attached a photo of their pet cat, Mero, with her paw up (her owner lifted it to simulate a hand wave) and Taekwoon swore that he felt both embarrassed, overwhelmed, and touched all at the same time. 

"Woah... What did you say that they're all over you now?" Hongbin said next to Taekwoon's ear, making him jump and almost throw his phone up in the ceiling. "Hey, I made sure that you heard my footsteps! It's your fault for being distracted!" He asserted when the latter had raised his other hand to ' _chop_ ' his neck. It was a good thing that he avoided Taekwoon's attack in time that he had another opportunity to poke fun at him, "Did you make a mistake and accidentally clicked ' _post reply_ ' instead of pressing the backspace button?" 

"It's not that," Taekwoon growled, giving up on punishing Hongbin since he would keep on dodging anyway and it was a pain to try and catch up to him. "Someone noticed that I've just been reading the posts and not saying anything. They said hello or something and everyone else followed." 

Hongbin grinned. "Well, whoever that was, be thankful that they did you a favour and saved you the trouble of thinking of what you could say for your first post. Go on, reply now~ I'll bother you again after you've answered." He waved his hand as he returned to the storage room, smiling at the animals that he passed by. "I'll be giving you your food soon. Wait a little bit more," Hongbin told the eager animals. 

"Ah, yes... Sorry..." Taekwoon murmured as he typed down the exact same words. Only right after he had finished did he immediately erase the text again and replaced it with, ' _Hello. I like this thread. Sorry for not posting sooner_.' He stared at his message and for sure, if he wasn't going to send it sooner, he would end up not posting it at all. So he just went for it with thoughts of ' _Who cares anymore_ ' and ' _YOLO_ ' (As he remembered seeing it tattooed under Wonsik's clavicle). 

Taekwoon pocketed his phone and finally stood up from his seat, going after Hongbin who was still struggling with the sack of food. "You done already?" The latter asked, snipping the scissors in his hand. "Or you've abandoned the idea of replying altogether?" He teased. 

"I replied," Taekwoon said simply, trying to keep himself composed. 

"Good," Hongbin flashed him a smile, his dimples showing on each cheek. "Now come and help me over here." 

* * *

Jaehwan finished his part time job half an hour ago and had arranged with his boyfriend to meet up at their local grocery store. After finding out that they were already short on his snack supply this morning, he promised that he wouldn't come home until his stock gets restored. It was 10 minutes ago when he had a video call with his boyfriend. Wonsik was just about to leave their building, and if he walks normally, Jaehwan estimated that he should be arriving quite soon. Distracting himself with the video game on his phone, he lost track of time and didn't realize until later that another 5 minutes had gone and there was still no sign of his boyfriend anywhere. He continued on to the next level and the next and the other 6 levels after that too, and Wonsik still hasn't arrived. 

Growing impatient and tired of standing up, Jaehwan decided to take the route back to their building so that he could meet Wonsik halfway through. However, he hasn't even gone around the first corner yet when he saw Wonsik speaking to somebody by a bus stop. His boyfriend was smiling wide until the guy that he was talking to said something and Wonsik's cheeks darkened and his laugh suddenly sounded sheepish. 

Jaehwan gritted his teeth and aimed to get closer to the two so he could eavesdrop on their conversation better. But upon hiding behind a tall store sign next to the bus stop, he found himself staring at the beautiful guy that his boyfriend was chatting with. The guy could probably even pass as a celebrity with just his handsome face, charming smile, and cute dimples—he even looked like he had been working out. Jaehwan could tell by just looking because Wonsik himself frequents the gym. He bit down on his thumbnail, glaring daggers at both his boyfriend and the guy. ' _Is that it?_ ' Jaehwan thought. ' _You met at the gym and even meet outside of it?_ ' 

As he carried on muttering to himself, the said person that Wonsik was talking to, finally noticed Jaehwan's presence. He reached out to Wonsik and tugged at his sleeve. With a softer voice, he said, "There's someone behind you that's been glaring at us for a while now—Don't look or he'll notice!" 

Wonsik tensed for a second and whispered back, "What do they look like? Are you sure that they're looking at us or—" 

" _Yes_!" The guy cried. "First of all, his nose is huge—!" 

Wonsik snickered and patted the guy's shoulder. "You don't have to worry about him," he smiled at him as if he wasn't nervous just moments ago. Straight after reassuring him, he looked over his shoulder and found the person whom he thought the guy saw. "Hyung! Come out of there and introduce yourself!" 

Jaehwan snapped out of his violent thoughts when he heard his boyfriend's familiar voice. He was going to scold him for making him wait, but when he saw the wide grin on his face, he shouted at him, "Don't tell me what to fucking do, you bastard! You made me wait for so long!" Jaehwan stomped his feet as he stepped away from his hiding place. "And what? I find you talking to _this_... This _guy_?" He pointed out, not knowing how to describe the guy that Wonsik was with. "Don't you fucking laugh you—!" 

"He's really cute as you said," the guy giggled, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as if it would hide the fact that he was smiling so wide. "Foul-mouthed too, but really cute~" He then held the same hand in front of him and said to Jaehwan, "Nice to meet you. I'm Hongbin. In case Ravi forgot to mention about me to you, we used to be classmates from middle school and high school." His lips curled into a teasing smile, "Nothing _more_." 

The teasing seemed to be effective as Jaehwan got worked up all over again and snaked his arms around Wonsik's tightly. " _We're leaving_ ," he hissed through his teeth, taking no refusals from his boyfriend at all. "We need to go home quick or I'll miss tonight's episode! _Stupid Ravi_..." 

Wonsik chuckled, but turned to Hongbin to wave at him. "See you later, Bin! I still have the same number so whenever you're around the area, just give me a call!" Although, it did result to the arms around him to constrict more. He winced but let Jaehwan drag him back to where the grocery was. 

"Sure!" Hongbin waved back at him. "And it was great meeting you, Jaehwan-ssi! Ravi has told me all about you! I hope we'll see each other again soon!" He watched as Jaehwan pinch his boyfriend on to the side to get him to hurry up, but all Hongbin could do was laugh at them and their relationship's dynamics. Ever since he asked his old classmate and best friend, "How are you?" all that Wonsik had even spoken about was how he met an amazing person named ' _Jaehwan_ ' and that he was really adorable and talented. Hongbin had never seen him so passionate about someone before as much as he was very dedicated to making music. It made him both glad and a tiny bit envious that even his friend whom he remembered only took 5 minutes to shower, found someone who appreciates him for who and how he was. He, too, wished that he would find someone like that, but he simply had no time— _that_ —and he hasn't looked for someone to begin with. Hongbin sighed as he watched the two disappear. ' _Should I also go and search online like Taekwoon-hyung?_ ' He thought, but before he could come to a decision, his bus finally arrived at the stop. 

Meanwhile, Jaehwan was still complaining non-stop at the fact that Wonsik had left him to wait for so long. Even though he was not voicing out that he really was just jealous that his boyfriend was talking to a handsome guy, Wonsik could discern simply from the way that he was acting. He wanted to tease him too (because he finds it cute to anger Jaehwan), but he figured that that won't be the best option given the current situation. So instead, he pulled his boyfriend to stop just before they reached the grocery's entrance. Jaehwan frowned in confusion and was about to nag at him again for stopping him for no good reason, but Wonsik had other plans— 

"I love you, hyung," he said cheekily before he stole a peck from Jaehwan's lips. 

His boyfriend was stunned for a couple of seconds, but Wonsik knew that his magic worked because Jaehwan's cheeks have gone red. He pouted his lips and grumbled, " _Just don't make me wait like that again..._ " 

Wonsik nodded his head, an excited smile on his lips as Jaehwan unlatched himself from him and entwined their fingers instead. "I won't." 


	4. just a friend

It took a lot of courage for Taekwoon to return to his favourite thread. He knew that he was being unreasonably anxious, but he couldn't help feeling the way that he did. It was only when he got to his room and thrown himself on his bed that he finally did turn his phone back on. Without realizing it, his palms had gone clammy as he waited for it to load. He hesitated again after his home screen flashed before him, eyes stuck on the internet icon in the app directory. But like a mantra, he tried to convince himself that the forum users would not think too badly of him for simply lurking and not interacting with them. It was not like it was included in the forum rules to _actually_ post. He was contented with just looking at the photos that the other users post. 

With all his diddle-dallying, his thumb that was hovering just over his screen lightly brushed the internet icon and prompted it to open. Taekwoon panicked, his heart racing like it had never before. Thinking that he still had a short window to cancel it, he repeatedly slammed his thumb on the cancel button next to the address bar. But as he was seconds later than his browser, the forum's homepage had already loaded when he pressed the cancel button (then a refresh button). Turns out, he had uselessly been refreshing the page the entire time. Only after some time, he stopped, his focus settling on the forum page. It came as no surprise that there were notifications from NNNNN's thread, indicating that there had been several posts after his reply earlier on. However, what really got Taekwoon's breath hitching was the (1) notification next to the inbox icon. ' _Who could it possibly be?_ ' His thoughts started, ' _Did I do something wrong? Did I offend somebody from what I said? What did I even say? Did I apologize?_ ' 

Sucking in his bottom lip between his teeth, he tapped on his inbox and prepared himself for the worst. It took a couple of seconds to load and before he knew it, he was staring at the only message in his inbox. Taekwoon didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what he saw. He blinked a couple of times to make sure that he was not imagining it and still, with each time that he opened his eyes, he saw the same unchanging username: NNNNN. The subject was a vague ' _Hello_ ,' and Taekwoon couldn't tell what could possibly be inside the message. Was he going to be banned? Was there really such a rule that stated that it was absolutely _necessary_ to post in the forum once you become a member? Could he possibly have missed it? 

Putting his thoughts aside, he opened up the message. ' _Hello_ ^^;,' it said. Taekwoon had known that NNNNN was expressive and loved to add emoticons to their text. ' _This is NNNNN from the thread_ "Share photos of your friends~^^" _and I just wanted to say sorry for my behaviour earlier_ >< _I shouldn't have called you out the way that I did. Everyone enjoys the forum differently and I understand if you're not really one to reply so please don't think too much about what I've said. You don't have to reply if you don't want to, okay! No one is forcing you and again, I'm sorry if my words came out that way. I would say that I'm just really excited to talk and usually treat the people in here as if they were my closest friends, but that's not a good enough reason now is it? Haha... so please don't go away. Don't leave the forum just because of what I said. Please continue to enjoy the forum and the posts in the threads~ Have a nice day (or afternoon or night, wherever you are in the world!)_ ' 

Taekwoon let out the breath that he didn't know he had been holding. He let his eyes run over NNNNN's message over and over again to make sure that he read it right the first time. Did someone online really apologize to him over something so _small_? As he scanned the text again, he kept on thinking about how wrong NNNNN was about everything. First of all, why were they apologizing to him? Taekwoon was supposed to be the one doing that. Second, he was not angry at all? Third, he said to himself out loud, "Why does this message even exist?" 

Taekwoon found himself writing an answer shortly after. He skipped over introducing who he was because surely, NNNNN knew who they sent the message to. Getting straight to the point, he told them that there was no need to apologize because he was not upset or angry. He explained that he just didn't know how to join their conversations since he was new to the forum and he didn't want to come off as rude or overly familiar if he were to suddenly reply to the thread. Taekwoon also thanked him for giving him a chance to be part of the conversation and also apologized, thinking that he might have blown the opportunity that NNNNN had given him by disappearing right after his last post. He quickly skimmed through what he had written before he hit send. 

' _It should be fine now_ ,' Taekwoon thought, sighing. He tapped on the notification for the new posts on NNNNN's thread and saw all the many other people who welcomed him to the forum. It almost as if the thread got transformed into his very own introduction thread; he felt both relieved and somewhat ashamed of the outcome, but they didn't last long. In time, the topic of the thread returned to pets, with other users who just logged in shared new stories and photos. Taekwoon's lips curled into a smile as he scrolled through texts and texts of their accounts. 

It had only been a minute or two when he noticed another (1) notification next to the inbox icon. Taekwoon clicked on it, thinking that someone else might have sent him a message. But once the page loaded, he found that NNNNN replied to him. "That's quick," he murmured, opening the message. 

' _I'm relieved to read that!_ :)' They wrote. ' _You don't have to apologize at all. Besides, there are plenty of opportunities for you to join in the conversation naturally. That's how all of us started in here and everyone's pretty understanding_ _Btw, you can just call me N! Typing NNNNN is too long and everybody calls me that here. Can I call you Leo?_ ' 

Taekwoon bit down on his lip. This time, it was out of excitement and not to suppress his agitating nerves. ' _Yes_ ,' he typed in right away, a wide smile breaking out of his face. He thanked N again and asked them to take care of him from then on. 

* * *

After his boyfriend picked him up from his last lecture for the day, they headed straight for the Subway shop just few minutes away from their university. Jaehwan hadn't yet eaten lunch and it was already 2 in the afternoon. He was starving by the time that Wonsik came out of the lecture hall and as soon as he saw him, he whined about being hungry, pouting his lips at him. 

A warm, fond smile melted away Wonsik's exhausted expression and he playfully scratched at his boyfriend's chin. "Were you waiting long, Jaehwanie~?" 

"Mhm," Jaehwan said, nodding his head. For a while, he allowed Wonsik to caress him and even made cute faces at him. But soon enough, he was grabbing his hand and setting it aside. "Stop it," he groaned. "I'm _seriously_ hungry. You were in there for so long. I thought I was gonna die of hunger." 

His boyfriend chuckled and settled with holding Jaehwan's hand. "That's why we're gonna go get something right now." He said. "How're you?" 

"Tired— _Spent_ ," He sighed. "My throat hurts from all the singing today and—" His voice suddenly became a pitch louder, "I had to drag my ass out of Hakyeon-hyung's dance practice because he forced me to do the new routine that he made with him! I don't even dance! That's why I'm taking vocal lessons—not dance!" Wonsik rubbed at his back to ' _comfort_ ' him, but he went on, "That's why I'm so hungry! And my feet hurts so we're taking the bus." 

Wonsik hummed and pulled out his travelling card with his free hand. "I don't think I have enough for a ride. I think we're gonna have to walk, hyung..." He said softly, but he hardly sounded sorry. If anything, it was almost like he was amused. 

Jaehwan gave him a horrified look. "I'm not walking!" He cried. "I'm taking the bus. You can walk for all I care!" 

His boyfriend giggled and clung to him, embracing him. " _Hyuuung_ ~ Don't leave me behind," he cooed. "I'm tired too." 

Jaehwan grimaced and pushed his chest away. "You don't understand and I'm tired of you too," he said through his teeth, but carried on trudging towards the sandwich shop. 

A smile formed at Wonsik's lips and he jogged to catch up to his boyfriend. "Sorry for taking long." He slid his hand inside his pocket and drew out a small packet of choco pie that he knew Jaehwan loved to snack on. 

The latter halted and blinked at the snack that Wonsik presented in front of him. "You know that I didn't mean what I said, right?" He sighed after a while. "It's not your fault that your class took long and... " He took the choco pie from his boyfriend and tore at the packaging. "I'm sorry too... that I snapped at you." 

Wonsik pressed a quick peck on Jaehwan's temple. "That's why I came prepared just in case." He offered his hand to him and his boyfriend gratefully took it with his free hand, lacing their fingers together. "By the way, hyung. Have you seen Taekwoon-hyung recently? Last time I saw him, he was glued to his phone, smiling at it weirdly." Jaehwan raised an eyebrow at him but otherwise continued to chew on his food. "Yeah, apparently he found some website. I thought he got himself a girlfriend at first, but apparently not." 

"Hmm... _Interesting_ ," Jaehwan mumbled, having just finished eating on his treat. "Maybe we should go see him today so I can go check on this ' _website_ ' of his. Could've been just a cover, y'know? Sometimes you're too easy to fool." He crumpled what remained of the packaging and stuffed it inside his pocket to throw away later. 

"True," Wonsik considered. "I tried to take a peek at his phone and he tried to hide it from me." 

Jaehwan chuckled. "Well there you go! A girlfriend — or a _boyfriend_. If everything else fails, it's porn. He's a man too after all." He winked at his boyfriend's direction. It seemed like he was in a better mood now after having eaten the choco pie that Wonsik gave him. He even forgot all about taking the bus despite how useless and a waste it might be as the sandwich shop was close to their university. And because they had been talking, it didn't seem so far as Jaehwan made it out to be. Soon enough, they were entering Subway and queueing up for an order. "Anyway, text him if he wants something. I'll just have him pay me back when we get to his place." 

Wonsik stood next to him as he checked his phone. There were messages from Jaehwan earlier and they were all about how he was taking so long in class and how hungry he was from having to wait for him. He thought, ' _Why didn't he go and buy something while he was waiting?_ ' Then again, the idea that Jaehwan didn't want him to think that he ditched him was cute. _'Hyung_ ,' he typed in to send to Taekwoon. ' _Jaejanji wanted to drop by at your place and asked if you wanted Subway._ ' 

"What did you say you wanted?" Jaehwan asked when they've finally reached the counter. "And what did Taekwoon-hyung say?" 

"The usual," Wonsik said, having just sent the message. "He hasn't replied yet but —" His phone vibrated before he could say another word. He quickly read it over and passed it to his boyfriend so he could inform the Subway employee. "That wasn't even a minute and he already responded..." 

" _Suspicious_ ," Jaehwan agreed. He handed some spare cash that he saved up from his wallet to the cashier and thanked him for the service. "Ah, speaking of which," He dragged his boyfriend to the side by his sleeve. "Have you sent him Hakyeon-hyung's video from the live show? You should send him a link while you're at it." 

"Do you actually think he'll watch it? You've seen his text." Based only on the time it took for Taekwoon to answer and how straightforward and concise his message had been, Wonsik could tell that he was on his phone the entire time — either actually hanging around in the forum that he claimed to have found or Jaehwan was right: he _is_ in a relationship. He didn't really mind if Taekwon lied to him about it since it was none of his business whether he's seeing someone or not anyway. But regardless of his thoughts, Wonsik looked for the videos of their university's famous Cha Hakyeon that his boyfriend uploaded not too long ago and copied the addresses of the videos to send to Taekwoon. "Do you think he'd even care?" 

Jaehwan shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. He cancelled on us last time. And it's Hakyeon-hyung that we're talking about here. He's _really_ good like he claims to be — You've seen it for yourself." He straightened the rolled up receipt in his hands to check their order number. "He's actually on scholarship — Have I mentioned that yet? But yeah, he'll go and tell you all about it himself when you ask him." 

"I'd rather not." Wonsik got the chills from simply imagining having to listen to Hakyeon harp on all about himself. They hadn't spoken much before, but he believed in Jaehwan's stories about him. He expected an answer from Taekwoon since he received a quick reply earlier on, but nothing came even after they've gotten their orders. "He didn't reply," he told his boyfriend. 

"It's a girlfriend, I'm telling you," Jaehwan said, already tearing off the paper from his sandwich. "— Or porn." 

' _Or the forum_ ,' Wonsik thought. 

* * *

It was a good guess, but he was wrong. Jaehwan was very off and so was Wonsik. It was neither a girlfriend nor the forum that got Taekwoon all preoccupied. By the time that the two arrived at Wonsik's senior's place, the door was ajar, left open for them to step through. "Taekwoon-hyung!" Wonsik called out, "We're coming in!" 

Silence answered them and they exchanged glances, puzzled. Jaehwan's booming voice filled the hall and the connected rooms when he cried for Taekwoon's name, and still, there was no voice that answered him. He kicked his shoes off, entrusting his boyfriend to arrange their shoes by the door, and went searching for Taekwoon through the different rooms. Eventually, he discovered him lounging on his bed, his earphones plugged in, and his eyes fixed on his phone screen. Taekwoon was focused, a part of him that Jaehwan had never seen before. He heard about how he would lose sleep over his work from Wonsik, but what he was witnessing was something else altogether. 

By the time that Wonsik reached where Jaehwan was standing still, leaning on the door frame of Taekwoon's bedroom, he whispered to his ear, "What's wrong? Why're you just standing here?" 

"I don't know..." His boyfriend admitted. "Somehow, I don't feel like disturbing him. I mean look at him." He pointed at Taekwoon's direction with his chin. "He's so into whatever's in there." 

"Are you going to say that it's his girlfriend again? Or _you know_..." Wonsik trailed off. He didn't wait for the former to say anything else and knocked on the door loud enough to catch Taekwoon's attention. Sure enough, his senior acknowledged their presence and waved his hand at them as if to shoo them away. 

Taekwoon pulled out one of his earpods off of his ear, but never looked up even for a second. "Sit wherever you like. The money's on the table." If only they knew that it was their fault that he was too distracted to even pay attention to them, they wouldn't be as confused as they were now. After all, a very talented dancer was performing such a mesmerizing piece on his screen right at that moment. He didn't know what compelled him to press the notification for Wonsik's message and actually click on the video links. If his junior was trying to distract him from the forum, he definitely did a good job about it since it didn't even occur to him that he still hasn't replied to N since he started watching videos of Cha Hakyeon — last 30 minutes ago. 

Taekwoon switched apps right away, padding across the room to follow Wonsik and Jaehwan out to where the kitchen was. Checking his inbox, he saw that N had sent him a couple of messages. Before he went and got himself preoccupied, they were talking about how N would sometimes walk dogs because it keeps them active. Taekwoon thought that it was indeed a good way to kill two birds with one stone: they get to pet and see dogs while they also get to keep themself moving rather than just lying down at home. ' _Maybe I should start doing that now too_ ,' he wrote back. He, however, quickly changed his mind and deleted what he typed. ' _I sometimes do that too_ ,' Taekwoon said instead, suddenly recalling the fact that walking dogs was also part of helping out at the pet shelter. 

"Girlfriend...?" Jaehwan probed, a teasing smile on his lips. He slid a plastic bag towards Taekwoon's seat and seized the notes that was left on top of the table. 

Taekwoon glared at him and sat himself down. While he dug through the plastic bag with one hand, he used the other to scroll through N's reply: ' _You've been busy, haven't you?_ ' "It's a friend," he corrected him. "Don't have time for that right now. Soon enough Ravi would barely have time for you too." He heard Jaehwan gasp, but he was too absorbed with his answer to listen to him convince Wonsik about managing his time, ' _Just a project_.' A harmless lie would not hurt — there was just no way that he could possibly tell someone that he spent the past half an hour staring at a _guy_ from his university dance. He could easily confess to binging animal videos and documentaries, but to admit that he was fascinated by the way a _man_ was performing was another issue entirely. Taekwoon wouldn't even dare to tell Wonsik, let alone Jaehwan. Nobody needed to know. It was his own little secret to keep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story can now be found in [AFF](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1300088/hook-line-and-sinker-vixx-hakyeon-hyukbin-taekwoon-neo-raken)
> 
> and yes, that's right. that's a subway ppl...


	5. next level

Having just finished giving baths to the last group of dogs, Hongbin finally had the chance to step out and check up on his colleague at the reception. As usual, Taekwoon was quiet during his work; he was arranging sheets of adoption papers and setting them aside for the day. "You're heading back now, hyung?" Hongbin asked him, raising a hand to his face to block off the orange, afternoon light streaming from the windows. He didn't realize that the day was almost over when he had only done the bare minimum since he arrived at noon. 

" _Mhm_ ," Taekwoon hummed, nodding his head. He had his phone in one hand and was scrolling down the screen. "Still have a paper to do." 

"You sure about that? You're always on your phone these days," Hongbin teased, chuckling. "But do go on ahead. I'll finish off in here and close the shelter." 

Taekwoon didn't say anything about his comment and only ruffled his hair when he passed him by. "Thanks. I'll see you next week, Bin-ah." He waited until the former had gone to where the office was before he sat down on his usual seat and collected all of the documents strewn over his desk into one stack. Hongbin pulled at one of the desk's drawers, carefully placing the sheets inside until it fit in perfectly. 

Taekwoon emerged again at the reception few minutes later, now clad in his favourite black, long jacket and his backpack slung on his shoulder. "Could you also shut the other computer off for me?" He said, noticing that he was turning off the computer that he was using. Hongbin glanced at the other computer anyway and nodded his head. "Thank you again, Hongbin." Taekwoon waved a hand at him and disappeared from the front door. 

"See you next time, hyung!" Hongbin shouted. "Also minimize the time you spend on your phone!" Although he didn't get any reaction from Taekwoon this time around, he was still pretty proud of himself. He found it rather amusing to poke fun at him regarding his new habit of checking his phone almost every passing minute. It had been that way since the last time that he encouraged Taekwoon to post in the forum. He assumed that something good must have happened for him to constantly check up on his phone as if he were waiting for his girlfriend to reply. It could be worse, Hongbin thought, but Taekwoon was still doing his tasks in the shelter so he didn't really have any problems with him. If anything, he was thankful that the older was fond of animals, otherwise it would be too difficult for him to run the shelter by himself on some days. 

Hongbin used his foot to give himself a push to his right where Taekwoon left the computer that he usually operated. With a few clicks on the mouse, the computer's screen dimmed as it was shutting down. He stretched his arms above him, yawning. He, too, had some assignments to do, but always felt that the pet shelter was his number one priority. His parents had trusted him enough to allow him to run it while they were away and he was determined to keep their confidence in him. 

As he was standing up, turning to go to the office and fetch his own stuff, he heard the front door opening. "Did you forget something, hyung?" Hongbin asked when the footsteps halted by the desk. 

"Ah, no. It's..." The person faltered. With mere few words, Hongbin whirled around to see who had spoken. It was a novel voice; none of the volunteers and the usual people who visit the pet shelter were the owner. "I found... I found them..." The person stammered, unable to form the right sentences to explain his visit. He lifted his arms so Hongbin could see what he was carrying over the reception desk. Stepping closer and leaning forward, Hongbin saw that within his hold were four Pomeranian puppies. He was speechless for a while, imagining what could have possibly happened that led to a stranger finding such small, delicate puppies all by themselves. And then he looked up, eyes landing on the young man's face. Hongbin almost forgot to breathe as the person was a juvenile—both adorable and good-looking all at the same time. He had heard a lot of people refer to him as the ' _handsome guy_ ' most of the time, but he couldn't quite explain what it was like seeing someone _be_ the embodiment of the compliments that he would always hear from people around him. 

"Um, excuse me?" The guy spoke up again, breaking Hongbin out of his reverie. "Is it alright to ask for the person in charge—or something—someone? Or... if it's okay, can I ask for your help?" He was still stepping over his words; he was confused and panicked, but he did his best to remain respectful towards Hongbin (with the assumption that the latter was older than him). 

"S-Sure," Hongbin said, flustered. He hurried over outside the reception area to take the puppies from the guy's arms. If it wasn't for his self-restraint, he would have already embarrassed himself and went on to explain that his family owned the pet shelter and therefore he could be trusted with issues like abandoned animals. Would the stranger have cared? Probably not. He must have just wanted to rid himself off the responsibility of taking care of the puppies— 

" _I would have taken them in_ ," the guy whispered, his eyes not leaving the puppies that were now resting against Hongbin's chest, "But I can't. Not at the moment. And my family—I'm not sure. I've thought of asking my friends afterwards, but I was certain that if I went here instead, they would get the immediate care that they need." 

Hongbin was wrong to think of him that way, he realized, and he immediately felt guilty about it. "You were right to come here," he offered so to sort of redeem himself. "If you could just wait here, I'll take care of them first and then come back to you. Is that okay?" 

The guy opened his mouth to decline, but ultimately decided against it. He nodded and his lips quirked into a small, brief smile. 

Hongbin showed him where he could sit down while he waited and rushed to take care of the puppies in his arms before he further hates himself for his impudent thoughts. 

* * *

Taekwoon _did_ have a paper to finish. It was due for the next day, but he had barely reached halfway the word limit. He would much rather laze around on his bed, watching videos online, or perhaps check out some of the most recent movies that he hasn't seen yet, or maybe read a book that he had been putting off for so long. There were plenty of things that he wanted to do all of a sudden—cleaning his room was one of them. For some reason, all of that he needed to tidy up had become only apparent now and he felt very inclined to do them right at the moment. But, as soon as he dove face first on his bed, he took out his phone and sent N a private message on the forum: ' _I don't feel like doing my work right now_.' 

As if N had just been sitting around, waiting for Taekwoon to reply, their answer arrived only a minute later: ' _Me too_ >< _I'm too lazy to do anything... Was just about to take a nap. Thank you for waking me up! I truly needed it!_ ' 

Taekwoon rolled over on his back, lifting his phone up in the air so he could write back. A (1) notification next to his inbox, however, caught his attention. He pressed the envelope icon and he saw that N had another message for him. It said, ' _Btw. Been meaning to ask you if you have a Katalk account. I thought that it might be easier for us to talk there. If not, that's fine. Don't worry about it._ ' His grip on his phone loosened in disbelief and it dropped right at his face. Taekwoon cursed under his breath, rubbing at the area on his nose where the phone fell. He picked up his phone again after a while, but continued to knead on his nose with the pad of his fingers. He already had a KakaoTalk account that he usually used for his classmates, friends, and sometimes his family. There was no way that he would share that account with N. Taekwoon chewed on his bottom lip while he got lost in his thoughts of how to evade giving his online friend his ID. 

" _Naver_!" He cried out all of a sudden, recalling the green search engine as he was just about to look for an alternative for KakaoTalk. Taekwoon sifted through different apps in the store until he found Line, an instant messaging application just like KakaoTalk. He downloaded it, signed up, uploaded a random photo of the university piano from his gallery, and finally returned to the forum to tell N that he only had a Line account. He knew that he should feel bad for lying, but he preferred to put a clear line between his real life and his online life as much as possible. 

' _I have a Line account too_ ,' N said and they attached a photo of their QR code. Taekwoon scanned it with his phone's camera, having to try several times because his hands were shaking with anxiety. He wasn't sure what he should be feeling about how quickly things were moving along with his friendship with N. Should he be impressed by the fact that the internet was such an amazing innovation to bring together many people with common interest easily? Or should he be scared and cautious that he and N were now at the stage where they were spending almost everyday messaging each other? Was that _normal_? Do real life friends even do that? Taekwoon had no idea; Wonsik would only message him when he needed something or if he wanted to talk about his boyfriend. He didn't even have Jaehwan's number yet and he had known him longer than he had known N. 

' _Hello_ ,' Taekwoon typed to test out if he added the correct person. 

It hadn't been 30 seconds and there was already an answer, ' _Hi! I almost forgot that I still had the Line app. The stickers here are very cute!_ ' After that, they sent an adorable sticker of a bear waving, the text above its head saying ' _Hello_!' 

Taekwoon checked his stickers and there were only the default stickers available. He realized that he didn't want to use money to buy any despite how cute he may find some of them, so he settled with using the default ones. Almost instantly, N replied and continued off with what they were talking about earlier. They mentioned something about how they were strict with schedules and they had to go do their grocery shopping (despite not wanting to get up from bed). ' _I'm glad that we moved our conversation here. I could easily get notified when you send me a message ^^ TTYL. Promise it won't take long!_ ' 

Taekwoon stared at the bear sticker that N sent him for a good minute. " _Talk to you later_..." He said softly, but didn't type it. He put his phone aside, looking straight at the ceiling vacantly afterwards. "I need to do my paper..." That was what he told himself and still, he continued to lie down on his bed, somehow overwhelmed with what just happened. 

* * *

" _Stop it_ ," Jaehwan hissed at his boyfriend. It was the third time that he had told Wonsik off since they started watching Spider-Man: Homecoming. This time, he had to actually peel his eyes off the laptop screen and pluck the latter's wandering hands off of him. "You said you wanted to watch this movie!" He raised his voice at him, but Wonsik only flashed him a cheeky smile and reasoned, "But you're so cute when you're concentrating, hyung~" 

Jaehwan's eyebrows furrowed in disapproval. "That's no reason to touch me when I'm paying attention to the movie!" He rebuked, but his boyfriend wasn't at all fazed by his words. Instead, Wonsik paused the movie, set the laptop aside, and opened his arms to invite him for an embrace. "I was still watching that!" Jaehwan scolded him, reaching for the folded laptop, but his boyfriend only kept pushing it further away from him. 

Knowing that he would not win with him no matter what (even if he acts all cute for him), Jaehwan sighed and sat up. "What do you want?" He asked begrudgingly. 

The corners of Wonsik's lips curled. He knew he had won. " _Here_ ," he said, pressing a finger to his lips. 

"If I give you what you want, can I finish my movie?" 

With a nod from his boyfriend, he gave himself up to his arms and cuddled against his warm body. He looked up and Wonsik was already leaning closer to him, his nose touching his. Jaehwan let his eyelids fall and closed the gap between them, circling his arms around his neck. He felt his boyfriend's triumphant smile in their kiss, but he dismissed it and allowed himself to get immersed in the moment. Wonsik's hand returned under his hoodie, leaving him quivering in anticipation. The latter liked to take his time, to tease him, but he wasn't having it. He bit down on Wonsik's lip, but he only heard a hearty chuckle from him and was rewarded with a pleasant squeeze through his sweatpants. 

Their breaths came ragged when they pulled away to recover. Even then, Wonsik was leaving him kisses on his jaw and he thought that maybe he wasn't _that_ upset over not finishing the movie. Jaehwan shifted a little so his boyfriend could tug his hoodie off, but the door came bursting open, catching them both off guard. 

"Ravi, I need—" The intruder stopped at his tracks to take in the current situation. His eyes swept over them briefly, but the second after, he was finishing off what he was saying as if he saw nothing, "I need to talk to you. It's important." 

Jaehwan was the first to straighten himself out. He wiped at his lips and dusted himself off like he was not just making out with his boyfriend. "You gave him a _copy_ of our key?" He demanded from Wonsik, his tone dripping with venom. "You're _unbelievable!_ " 

Wonsik shook his head, his cheeks flushed. "I didn't!" 

"Your dormmate let me in," Hongbin said as a matter of fact. "Now can you guys stop being gross for a moment so I can talk?" 

Jaehwan threw his hands up. "We're not being gross! And _you_!" He pointed at his boyfriend's friend. "Do you not know how to knock? Did your parents not teach you basic manners?" 

Hongbin rolled his eyes. "I _did_ knock a couple of times and even asked your dormmate if you were here and he _definitely_ said that you're in here." He turned to Wonsik. "Can we talk? I need to tell you something important." 

"Fine! Whatever!" Jaehwan stood up from the bed and stormed out of the door, slamming it shut after him. 

"You made him mad," Wonsik commented, looking on at the door fondly. "Don't you think he's cute, Binnie? He's seriously the cutest." 

"I didn't come here for your disgusting tastes in men," his best friend scoffed, grimacing. "Listen, I need to tell you something." He dragged a computer chair all the way to the bed and sunk down on it. 

"You've been saying that for the past few minutes. What's up?" Wonsik sat up, running his fingers through his hair and then shaking his fringe away. 

Hongbin dragged himself closer to him. " _Listen_ ," he murmured, " _There's this guy that came to the pet shelter_." He glared at Wonsik when he saw him about to retort something. "He was really _really_ young looking, but it's _different_ —I don't know how to explain it. He was handsome, but also cute? Do people think that about another man if you're straight? Isn't that weird? Yeah, I think I'm _definitely_ weird. But he was really nice? He looked like he had somewhere else that he needed to go to but he waited for me patiently. And his clothes—He was wearing formal clothes, but they were all dirty because he rescued these Pomeranian puppies and took them to the shelter. I told him that I was sorry that he got his clothes spoiled—which was really stupid because it wasn't my fault—but he assured me that he has extra clothes at work. He was working! So I thought that maybe he's older than me, but he just looked really young? I don't know!" 

"You know, I think you've got yourself a boycrush there, Binnie Boy," Jaehwan remarked. He was standing by the door, a bowl of cereal in his hands. "Straight men shouldn't even be asking if thinking another guy is cute meant you're gay." 

Hongbin turned to him, agitated. " _You—_! Why didn't you _knock_? Can't you see that we're having a conversation here?" 

"Last time I checked, I live in here so I don't think I should be knocking to get to my room?" Jaehwan flumped on the bed next to his boyfriend. "But as I was saying, you've got a crush on this guy. For someone to leave that kind of impression on you that you would go all the way and ruin your friend's make-out session, don't you think it's more than just innocent curiosity?" He glanced at Wonsik and shoved a spoonful of his cereal in his mouth. "What do you think?" 

"Don't talk with your mouth full," his boyfriend reprimanded him, wiping at his lips. "But I think he's right, Bin. Pretty sure that that's how crushes work no matter how you look at it. Did he tell you that you were handsome?" 

Hongbin crossed his arms in front of him. "What's the relevance of that?" He grumbled. 

Wonsik shrugged. "I don't know. I just think you're too handsome that you could make a couple of guys question their sexuality, you know? I do remember that happening before." 

His friend's cheeks turned to different shades of red. "So what are you saying? I could turn him gay so I could feel the satisfaction of him liking me? That's not what I want at all! What I'm trying to say is, and the reason why I'm here is, I was just taken aback to see someone so good-looking and cute at the same time? I've always heard it addressed to me, but he—the guy—was the _definition_ of it? I'm not even kidding right now." 

" _Hmmm_... Yeah, he's not getting it," Jaehwan concluded. "Did you at least get his name?" 

Hongbin was going to answer, but he found that he didn't know at all. He lowered his head, " _No... I didn't ask..._ " 

"Then you're doomed." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know that it's starting to feel as if taekwoon is getting less appearance in a neo fic, but it'll get better...


	6. late and later

Taekwoon squinted at the morning sun seeping through his slightly drawn curtains. He had nothing else to do for the rest of the day and he wasn't sure if he could drag himself back to his place now that he was all dressed up. When he woke up, he cursed at his noisy alarm, grumbled about finishing his paper in the last minute, and he hated his university more than he ever did for forcing their students to submit a physical copy of their papers on top of submitting it online. He didn't really have any other choice but to actually force himself to get up. Otherwise, his paper wouldn't be graded and that would greatly affect his marks. Taekwoon didn't even manage to grab a bite. He rushed straight out of bed, pulled on some ripped jeans and a hoodie, and he was good to go. 

Now, he was starving. It was still fairly early and he could return to fetch his wallet, but he didn't want to walk all the way back to his place for it. Taekwoon slumped down on one of the benches just outside the office he's been to. He should've at least brought his phone with him to see if N replied to the message that he sent last 5 in the morning (when his veins were too saturated with coffee to keep himself from falling asleep). But like his wallet, he didn't bring it with him either. He threw his head back and groaned. That only meant one thing: his only choice was to get up and start making his way to his place to collect his wallet and phone. 

Taekwoon scrambled to sit straight when he caught sight of an upside down Cha Hakyeon, not too far from where he was sitting. The latter probably wouldn't see him, but he felt _conscious_ anyway. Especially since it hasn't been long when he last watched him dancing from his phone. Cha Hakyeon was as he appeared on screen: graceful and radiating. Those around him, even those who come up to him to greet him, were all smiles and flushed cheeks. Taekwoon had no doubts that the only reason why Jaehwan was acquainted with him to begin with was because he was as sociable as Cha Hakyeon was—something that would probably take him ages to do. Besides, he knew almost little to none about him. It's most likely that the two of them have nothing in common and any conversation he might ever initiate with him would end up with him staring at space and Hakyeon would have already moved on. 

Taekwoon's eyes followed the dance major student and the small crowd that surrounded him. ' _What could he possibly be doing in campus so early in the morning?_ ' He thought, throwing a quick look at his wrist watch. Should he be present for a lecture, either he's running late or he's very early for it. ' _Could he be going to a cafe for some breakfast?_ ' Taekwoon didn't know and Cha Hakyeon was beyond his line of vision to continue asking himself questions that he didn't need answers for. He rose to his feet, concluding that it was his hunger that kept generating all the nonsense that pops up in his mind. 

* * *

" _Wonsik, turn it off_." Jaehwan shook his boyfriend's shoulder, not making an effort to do it himself. The alarm that he set few hours ago had been going on for quite some time and many snoozes had already come and passed. Still, Wonsik didn't seem affected at all. It was always Jaehwan who would wake up from the alarms regardless of whoever sets it beforehand. His boyfriend was a deep sleeper (this was on top of his habit of snoring and thrashing around) and he hated it especially during the times that he wanted to sleep in. Today was not one of those days. He simply wanted to forget the reason why he set up the alarm in the first place and possibly make the excuse of: ' _I didn't wake up from my alarm_ ,' when asked. But if Wonsik wouldn't make the blaring alarm shut up any time soon, he might just smother him with his pillow. 

" _Wonsik_ ," Jaehwan tried again, shaking him until he actually got some kind of response from his boyfriend. "Turn off the alarm." 

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Wonsik groaned, rolling to lie on his side. "It's yours." 

"Exactly!" Jaehwan hissed. With another ring, he conceded, " _Okay_! Okay! _Shut up_!" He felt around for his phone under his pillow and finally brought the sweet silence back in their shared bedroom. "I don't wanna go... Hakyeon-hyung's gonna make me dance again." 

Although Wonsik would much rather return to his sleep than discussing his boyfriend's woes, he patiently listened to him. "Tell him you don't wanna do it." 

Jaehwan pulled the covers over his body and embraced his soft Chopper doll. "You think I haven't done that already? No matter how I try to evade it, he'd still find a way to either force me into it or make himself the victim, guilt-tripping me into doing it in the end." 

The younger chuckled, imagining the pout on Jaehwan's lips. "You're a good boy, Jaehwanie. Your hyung relies on you a lot." 

"And _I_ rely on _you_. Why don't _you_ be a ' _good boy_ ' and try being his practice dance partner for me, huh? That would take a whole lot of weight off my shoulders, thank you very much." 

Wonsik frowned. "We aren't even that close and you want me to dance with him? I admit that while I'm better than you in dancing, there's no way that I could possibly follow him if ever I do dance with him. And would you be fine about that? Me, dancing with Hakyeon-hyung? You're hostile towards Binnie—don't you tell me that it isn't true because it is and we both know it." 

Jaehwan took a deep breath. "First, Hakyeon-hyung wouldn't be interested in you. Second of all, this ' _Binnie_ ' of yours is a fucking handsome kid. Have you actually looked at him? Look _look_ at him? It's like looking at a face of an angel, for fuck's sake! Third, I don't care much about him now. Because even if you do start to like him, there's no way in hell he'll like you back. Kid's fallen head over heels over some guy he's spoken to for like 5 seconds! And lastly, as I always fucking say, I'm a vocal performance major, not a stupid dance major." 

"For the record, I fell for you at first sight." His boyfriend abandoned his side of the bed and pulled Jaehwan close to his chest. The latter kicked away and pinched at his arms to get him to release him, but Wonsik only snuggled closer to him, burying his face on his nape. "You were so cute and I didn't know what to do. How was it possible to find such a cute _man_? I've gone through a lot of denials, online tests, and different mixers, but I still liked you. 'Twas even worse when I actually approached you and we started talking. I liked you more and more and I just _had_ to ask you if you wanted to go out with me." 

"Stop breathing on my neck," Jaehwan whined, shrugging his shoulders as if it would block Wonsik's breath. He was thankful for the window blinds or his boyfriend definitely would see that his face, neck, and ears were flushed. He attempted to put some little distance between them so that at least he wouldn't _feel_ how warm his skin had gotten, but Wonsik would nevertheless advance even closer than he did before. 

"Didn't even know what's gotten into me—Should've prepared myself in case you said no. And you _did_ say no, which sucked... Think that I was down for a good time, couldn't concentrate on anything. If it wasn't for Taekwoon-hyung, I probably would have failed and maybe dropped out too, because what was the point, right? It didn't seem like I was in the position to do anything soon, but... You know the rest. All I'm saying is, I care about you right now so even if someone else comes around, I'd be thinking of you." Wonsik planted a quick peck on his neck. "Hyung, can you look at me? I want to see you right now..." 

"No one asked for your speech..." But despite his words, Jaehwan draped his blanket over his boyfriend and himself and turned over to face him. 

Wonsik cupped his blushing face between his hands and pressed their foreheads together. "Thank you for giving us a chance." He captured his boyfriend's lips, not giving him another chance to speak. 

"Would you go and dance with Hakyeon-hyung in my place then?" Jaehwan asked against his lips when he first pulled away. "I really don't wanna go... You've danced before, right?" 

"I'll see what I can do," Wonsik sighed. He knew that his boyfriend was exhausted and would rather spend his time sleeping that particular day instead of overworking his body that wasn't made to dance. It's not like he had anything to do today or tomorrow since his lectures and part-time job weren't due any time soon. "I'll do it once, but after that, you promise you wouldn't dance again? It's good exercise for you, but you'll just wind up really tired during other important things." 

He was reluctant, a huge pause falling between them as he weighed everything out in his head. "Okay..." Jaehwan said after a while. "We'll talk to him about it." 

"Good." Wonsik pressed another kiss to his temple. 

* * *

Different from how his boyfriend usually described his friend, Cha Hakyeon didn't turn his head or flinch when they pushed the door open, didn't even do so much as to acknowledge them. Instead, his full attention was to the music that he was leading him and his dance partner. " _I don't think we're needed here_ ," Wonsik whispered next to Jaehwan's ear. " _He's gotten himself a partner—a_ highly _competent one at that_." And he was not wrong. She was as supple as Hakyeon was fluid during their shared routine. They would look into each other's eyes like the world around them had stopped, as if they were the only two people left. Wonsik had watched Cha Hakyeon dance many times before, but like most people, he would always find himself as mesmerized as the first time. 

" _No kidding_ ," Jaehwan murmured back, situating himself down at his usual spot next to one of the wall mirrors. His boyfriend followed after him, but his gaze didn't leave Hakyeon and his partner. 

"You're late," came Hakyeon's voice once the music faded. He smiled, bowed his head, and shook the hand of his partner, but his attention was on Jaehwan after she clapped a hand on his shoulder and complimented him. "I don't remember arranging to meet at _this_ time. Though I did expect to see you an hour and a half before." He heaved a sigh, placing a hand on his hip. "And do you know what the worst thing is? You don't even look a tiny bit sorry about it." 

"What do you want me to do about it?" Jaehwan shrugged, only proving Hakyeon right. "I'm not a dance major so I don't know why you keep forcing me to do this." 

Hakyeon's dance partner giggled. "Is that true? What are you studying?" 

"Vocal performance," Jaehwan replied, bending his head to greet her. "Hello, sunbae-nim." 

"You should get someone else to practice with, Hakyeon. There are plenty of promising junior dancers out there and I'm sure that they would be more than pleased to do the routine with you. It'll be bad for vocal performers especially—unless you're aiming to become an idol then that's a different story." She grabbed her bag from one of the chairs that she dumped it on before and waved at the boys. "It was nice dancing with you again after all this time, Hakyeon. I hope to be around during your evaluation." In spite of not knowing who Jaehwan and Wonsik were, she was polite to bid her farewells to them. 

Hakyeon was wearing a face of displeasure the moment the door clicked shut. He didn't bother to hide how upset he was about being made to wait. "That doesn't change the fact that you're late. You could've at least sent me a text about it." 

"About that," Wonsik finally spoke up after all this time. He walked up to Hakyeon, leaving his boyfriend's side after receiving an encouraging pat on his back. "We actually came here because we wanted to talk to you about that. Jaehwan-hyung can't continue doing this with you. It's going to take a lot of toll on him..." He glanced back at him and Jaehwan was showing his thumbs up. "Truth is, he brought me here today to try the routine with you once...? Actually, I don't know why you even need him to begin with." 

Hakyeon eyed him for a while, probably scrutinizing him as if they haven't been introduced to each other before. "You've been working out?" He invited himself to squeeze Wonsik's biceps without asking him for permission. "Yeah. Well, thanks for the offer, Wonsik, but you heard her. I'm gonna need to find some lucky juniors to dance with me." 

Wonsik knitted his eyebrows. "But... Why did you want Jaehwan-hyung to dance with you?" 

His boyfriend's friend laughed all of a sudden. "Don't worry! I'm not planning to steal him from you if that's what you're worried about!" He grabbed his water bottle that sat next to his plugged phone. "Jaehwanie's made it seem like I'm torturing him in here, but I just taught him a couple of basic stuff to help him get around. It'll help with his health and horrible diet." 

"It's not _my_ choice!" Jaehwan cried. "Blame the uni for my ' _horrible_ ' diet!" 

"I'm sure that even if he had all the money in the world, he would turn obese from all the junk that he couldn't live without eating." Hakyeon shook his head in disapproval. "I take it that he doesn't listen to you either?" 

Wonsik nodded. "He never listens to me. Maybe he'll listen to you or this other friend we have, but not me." 

Hakyeon finished off his water bottle and unplugged his phone from the speakers. " _Must be nice to have someone like that_ ," he mused. "Jaehwanie's literally the only one I could drag with me to my dance practices. Everyone else I know is either too busy or they aren't interested." 

' _Pretty sure that both things apply to Jaehwan_ ,' Wonsik thought, but didn't say out loud. His boyfriend's friend seemed dismayed enough and he didn't really want to make things worse for himself by telling him that. "Uhh... Since we're here and all, is it alright if we sit around for a while? Jaehwan-hyung wanted to meet his professor quickly, but he still has lectures so..." He trailed off when he witnessed the glow around Hakyeon as he stared at whatever was on his phone screen. 

"I'm sorry, what?" Hakyeon said, a wide smile still sitting on his lips. "Yeah, sure. Stay. Your boyfriend's already got himself comfortable over there." 

Wonsik turned his attention to Jaehwan and saw that what he said was right. His boyfriend was sprawled on the floor, his arms cushioning his head. "Thanks, hyung." 

"Be comfortable, Wonsikie." Hakyeon patted his arm. He said this, but most of his attention was on his phone that it sort of reminded Wonsik of Taekwoon's attachment to his phone these past few days. Wonsik couldn't help but think of the older generation criticizing their generation and the younger generations about their apparent reliance on technology and their smartphones. It seemed to him that Hakyeon and Taekwoon were prime examples of such people. (He knew that he should include Jaehwan's addiction to all sorts of mobile games, but it appears that their seniors depend on their phones more). 

As soon as Wonsik returned, his boyfriend curled up next to him and laid his head on his lap. " _Thank you, Ravi_..." Jaehwan mumbled. Before long, music filled the room once again. 

* * *

Food came first in Taekwoon's to-do list and he didn't have the patience to cook a meal for himself. He picked up his wallet and phone and then he was off at a nearby convenience store, boiling water for his ramyeon and happily browsing through the forum (occasionally posting replies if he felt like it). Taekwoon left N's thread until the last so he could enjoy it with his noodles. As per usual, N had shared a photo of a new friend. It had a beautiful smooth black coat and its eyes were bright amber in colour. They said that the dachshund was a dog that they've known since it was a puppy. Apparently, the owner still remembered N and they were really delighted that they weren't forgotten. N claimed that the photo was taken a few days ago and only decided to share the photos and story now. 

Taekwoon took a sip from his ramyeon cup, pulling down his notification centre for N's Line message replies. They were from this morning, around the time that he was rushing to submit his paper. " _Ah..._ " The word left his mouth when he saw the contents of the message. N was asking him about which photo of the dachshund should they share to the forum. They asked for Taekwoon's opinion and he didn't send a reply in time. ' _I'm really sorry_ ,' he typed in the speed of light. ' _I was busy earlier and only saw your messages now.'_ He wanted to explain his reasons, but he thought that he would sound insincere that way. ' _All the photos are cute. You chose the best one to post_.' 

He waited a good minute to see if N would open the Line app, but he didn't. Taekwoon anxiously finished the rest of his ramyeon, drinking the broth from the cup until it was empty. N would usually answer a few seconds after his message (a couple of minutes maximum), so he wondered whether he made them upset by leaving them hanging. ' _You're overthinking_ ,' he reprimanded himself. With a sigh, he clicked on the photos of the dachshund that N personally sent him. The dog looked as if it was posing for the camera—that—or N was simply a good photographer to catch great instances. 

As Taekwoon looked through the photographs, he noticed _something_ about them. He couldn't quite point out what it was for a long time, but now, he thought that he finally got what was bothering him—the place where N took the photos from seemed like a familiar place. While he couldn't remember exactly where it was, he was certain that he had been there before. Behind the dachshund, some people in cerulean uniforms were either standing still or passing by. It didn't look like school uniforms, but a uniform for something else. Taekwoon didn't try to force himself to remember too much because it was likely that the owner and their cute dachshund were on a walk when N encountered them. Perhaps he could ask N about it after they respond to his message. 

Taekwoon just found it rather interesting how his online friend could be closer to him than he thinks. And now that he's thinking about it, he wasn't sure if he would be prepared to meet N. He hoped that they wouldn't ask for something as unnecessary as meeting up since he was contented with how their friendship currently is. What if they would be awkward around each other when they meet? How could they possibly continue chatting on messenger that way? He wouldn't want to lose a friend over something stupid so he would rather not risk it. 

' _Your Prince Charming kissed you awake, Sleeping Beauty?_ ' N's message said when it came through. ' _You were up until the morning so I expected you'd be answering later~_ ' 

Taekwoon's cheeks turned red. How dare they call him after a _princess_? ' _I'm not Sleeping Beauty_ ,' he texted back furiously. ' _I was busy doing something_.' 

' _Oh. One more thing that I know about you: You're not Sleeping Beauty,_ ' his online friend continued to tease. ' _How about the Little Mermaid?_ ' 

' _No!_ ' Taekwoon said the moment he saw their answers. ' _!!!!!!_ ' 

' _It was a joke~_ ' 

Even though he was embarrassed, Taekwoon could now say that his day was not as bad as how it began. Talking with N: sharing photos of adorable animals and random anecdotes, and poking fun at one another, he found was a good destressor. He wished that these sort of simple moments in his life would continue to last and never change. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry if there are more mistakes than usual... i just wanted to update this as soon as i can so i can sleep lol~
> 
> hakyeon finally made his appearance after several chapters lol. do you guys still read this? yeah, i know the updates aren't always coming around but they are still being written, i assure you :)


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